1. Field of the Invention
The present invention belongs to a field of fuse holder into which a blade type fuse, with blade terminals protruding from its body, is fitted.
2. Related Art
A fuse fitting device into which a blade type fuse is fitted is known. This device comprises a block of synthetic resin, and connecting terminals, which are inserted from below into a chamber in the block and fitted to a lance of the block. When this fuse fitting device is to be used, electric wires are connected to the connecting terminals, these connecting terminals are inserted into the chamber of the block and fitted to the lance, a fuse is inserted from above into the chamber of the block, and the blade terminals of the fuse are fitted into the connecting terminals to make connection (for example, refer to Japanese Patent unexamined publication gazette Heisei 6-150806).
When a plurality of fuses are to be fitted into this fuse fitting device, a block must be newly designed whenever the number of fuses to be used is modified. It is inevitable to produce a mold for the block in each occasion, and in turn, the production of the fuse fitting device is costly.
The present invention was made in view of these points, and one objective of the invention is to propose a multiple-fuse holder, wherein a plurality of fuse holders, each of which is a combination of a holder housing and contacts, are coupled together, use the multiple-fuse holder, mount a required number of fuse holders on a printed circuit board, load the printed circuit board in a casing or the like and produce a fuse fitting device, and easily produce a fuse fitting device for any number of fuses to be used and reduce the production cost of the fuse fitting device. Other objectives include to reduce the production cost by adopting fork-shaped contacts, and to guarantee high performance of the fuse fitting device by supporting these contacts by the holder housing and preventing the contacts from being pried.
To accomplish these objectives, the present invention is a multiple-fuse holder into which a plurality of blade type fuses, with blade terminals protruding from the bodies thereof, are fitted, said multiple-fuse holder comprises a holder housing group wherein a plurality of holder housings, in each of which a chamber for holding the blade terminals and at least a part of the body of a fuse inserted from above is formed with wide walls at the front and the rear and narrow walls on the right and the left, are arranged at a constant pitch and each pair of adjacent holder housings are coupled together by coupling parts, each of which is integrally formed on a part of a wall thereof, and contacts, which are provided two for each holder housing, each contact having an intermediate part fixed to the holder housing, a connecting part, at one end, extending into the chamber to fit with a blade terminal, and a leg, at the other end, extending out of the holder housing to be soldered or press-fitted onto a printed circuit board.
When a fuse is fitted into each holder housing of this multiple-fuse holder, the blade terminals and at least a part of the body of each fuse will be held in the chamber of each holder housing, and the blade terminals will be fitted into the connecting parts of the contacts. A multiple-fuse holder or a plurality of multiple-fuse holders is arranged on a printed circuit board. Or a fuse holder or a plurality of fuse holders, which is obtained by dividing a multiple-fuse holder, is arranged on a printed circuit board. When the leg of each contact is soldered or press-fitted onto the printed circuit board, the required number of fuse holder (single or plural) will be mounted onto the printed circuit board. When conductive parts such as electric wires are connected to the pattern of the printed circuit board, the fuse or fuses will be electrically connected to the conductive parts. When the printed circuit board is loaded into a casing or the like, a fuse fitting device will be produced. When this multiple-fuse holder is used, a fuse fitting device can be made with ease for any number of fuses to be used without newly designing a block. Hence the production cost is reduced. To produce a fuse fitting device, a multiple-fuse holder or a plurality of multiple-fuse holders or a fuse holder or a plurality of fuse holders may be mounted onto the printed circuit board before fitting a fuse into each fuse holder.
Accordingly, a fuse fitting device can be produced easily for any number of fuses to be used by properly dividing the multiple-fuse holder of the present invention or keeping it intact, mounting the fuse holders onto a printed circuit board and loading the printed circuit board in a casing or the like, and in turn, the production cost of the fuse fitting device can be reduced.